News and Notes: High School Graduation Rates

Last week, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) released high school graduation rates for the 2013 cohort, students who entered 9th grade in 2013. The overall graduation rate increased to 80.2 percent, up 0.5 percentage points from 79.7 percent for the 2012 cohort. The 2013 cohort graduation rate is more than 11 percentage points higher than it was a decade earlier, when the 2003 cohort graduation rate was 68.6 percent.

Parent Newsletter: High School Graduation Rates

To assist public school districts, school libraries, and School Library Systems to develop or adopt a curriculum and training program designed for K-8 students, parents, teachers, school librarians, and support staff to aid in the prevention of child abduction.

The purpose of the Fellows grant is to provide 11th grade high school students, with an emphasis on boys and young men of color, with opportunities to gain authentic leadership experience(s) and develop service projects beneficial to the schools they attend and the communities they live in.

Funding Opportunity: New York State Integration Project – Professional Learning Community (NYSIP-PLC) Grant

New York State (NYS) has been recently found by one measure to have the most racially and socioeconomically segregated school system in the nation. In light of this, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) recently presented a proposed Diversity StatementAdobe PDF to the Board of Regents, outlining the positive impacts of socioeconomic, racial, and other types of integration on academic outcomes for elementary and secondary-school students. In an effort to support this renewed commitment to racial, socioeconomic, and other types of student integration in New York State, the NYSIP-PLC grant offers funds to assist LEAs to promote staff understanding of the benefits of integration and to assist staff to develop individualized district integration plans.

Reviewing past accomplishments can help administrators achieve success in the future (opinion)

How Ph.D. students can find jobs outside academe appropriate to their discipline (opinion)

Skills and knowledge gained from relevant work experience -- and not credentials -- are what will open doors and create opportunities for graduate degree holders, write Jennifer Polk and L. Maren Wood.

My Art Is a Reflection of My Story: National PTA Reflections Student Arts Showcase at ED

WASHINGTON ? The U.S. Department of Education today released the Administration's budget request for the 2019 fiscal year. The budget builds upon President Donald J. Trump's commitment to expand education freedom for all families and return power to local leaders.

Why You Should Celebrate National School Counseling Week

It just figures that National School Counseling Week starts the day after the Super Bowl. The country gorges on guacamole-covered chicken wings on Sunday, and when America?s most misunderstood group of educators asks for three nacho chips and a high five on Monday, the country is too tired to party.

Educator Self-Care Is Social Emotional Learning

Secretary DeVos Announces New Student-Centered Funding Pilot Program

Washington — U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos today announced new flexibility for school districts to create equitable, student-centered funding systems under a pilot program authorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
"This is a great opportunity for local district leaders to put students first," said Secretary DeVos. "Instead of relying on complex federal rules to allocate funds, local leaders can use this flexibility to match funds—local, State or Federal—to the needs of students."

Encoding Literacy in Computer Science

Grieving Mother Yells For Trump To 'Do Something' After Florida School Shooting

The mother of a student killed in Wednesday?s school shooting in Florida pleaded with President Donald Trump to ?please do something? in a segment on CNN Thursday. Lori Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter, Alyssa, was one of at least 17 people killed in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, appeared on CNN Thursday and made an emotional call for the president to take action in response to gun violence. ?President Trump, you say, ?What can you do.? You can stop the guns from getting into these children?s hands,? she continued, yelling into the camera.

Needed in Syria: Disengagement

One is the outbreak of another war between Israel and its neighbors. A reminder of this danger has come from events that began when Israel said it shot down an Iranian drone that had entered its airspace. Israeli F-16s then attacked a command center in Syria, during which Syrian air defenses downed one of the Israeli warplanes (a rare event for Israel). Israel subsequently launched a much more widespread set of aerial attacks within Syria. The Israelis have conducted scores of attacks in Syria over the last five years, but this most recent assault may have been the largest Israeli attack there since the 1980s. A new war involving Israel would surely also involve Lebanese Hezbollah. There is no indication that Hezbollah seeks such a war. The group has incurred significant costs by participating in fighting within Syria and has many wounds to lick. Its leaders still have regrets about the brinksmanship that last got Hezbollah entangled in a war with Israel. Even though it could get in some hits with cross-border rocket fire, the group?s leaders know that in a new clash it would get badly bloodied by its militarily more capable foe.

Cambridge University may bring back entry exam as too many acing A-levels

Cambridge University is considering reintroducing an entrance exam because too many applicants get top marks in their A-levels, in a move that has raised concerns that state school pupils would be put at a disadvantage.

Free school meals for infants 'set to be scrapped' under Osborne's spending review

Parents prepared to pay average fine of £210 for taking children on holiday during school term, survey finds

Half of parents from across the UK are prepared to face fines over the next year after admitting they will be taking their children out of school to go on holiday, according to an online travel agency?s research.

House panel raise concerns surrounding sex-education bill

Kansas public schools face brewing backlash in budget debate

The Role of Campus Leadership in Ensuring IT Accessibility

“Everyone should have an opportunity to participate in higher education.”

With those words, Michael K. Young, President of the University of Washington, opens a new video from his institution’s AccessComputing Project, IT Accessibility: What Campus Leaders Have to Say. Developed with support from the National Science Foundation, this video presents university presidents, chief information officers, and other higher education leaders who stress the importance to higher education of accessibility for persons with disabilities, and of having campus technology environments that support it.

The Game is Changing. What Will Be Expected of You?

“When we were doing our studies for the National Academies, the typical first response of university presidents or CFOs or provosts was to say: ‘I understand things are changing very rapidly, but I'll ask my CIO to take care of it. The CIO usually can.’ We would then ask: ‘Suppose you wake up in the morning and come in to your office and nothing works anymore. You can't access e-mail. All of your course systems have collapsed. Who fixes the problem?’ They begin to scratch their heads, and pretty soon it's like the five phases of grief. They start off with denial and anger, move through bargaining and depression, and finally reach acceptance.” — James J. Duderstadt, Change and the Research University

The Top-Ten IT Issues, 2012

The EDUCAUSE annual publication of top IT issues has long resonated as a yearly snapshot of the most pressing issues for IT leaders in higher education. At the top of list for 2012:

Updating IT professionals’ skills and roles to accommodate emerging technologies and changing IT management and service delivery models Supporting the trends toward IT consumerization and bring-your-own device Developing an institution-wide cloud strategy

Below are the EDUCAUSE Review article summarizing the IT Issues Panel's findings for 2012 and accompanying resources.

Get Involved with EDUCAUSE -- Volunteer Submissions Are Due June 1

As someone who has a vested interest in higher education IT, you are part of a dynamic and close-knit community where we share new ideas, network with peers, and work toward the common good of the profession.

EDUCAUSE provides opportunities to be an active member by volunteering in a variety of roles, either short- or long-term, throughout the year. These opportunities include:

Is Agile the Future of Project Management?

Gartner predicts that by the end of 2012, agile development methods will be used on 80 percent of all software development projects. Project Management Institute’s research shows that agile project management tripled from December 2008 to May 2011, and can help decrease product defects, improve team productivity, and increase business value.

Dear America ? All Children Deserve Quality, Affordable Preschool

2018 Edition of BS/MD Programs-The Complete Guide Now Available

The 2018 edition of our book, BS/MD Programs-The Complete Guide is now listed on Amazon. It shows Temporarily Out of Stock but that is because Amazon hasn’t caught up with the publisher yet. If you order it you should be able to receive it fairly quickly. As we have done every year, the new book...Continue Reading >

BS/MD Results for 2017

Every year we get requests to post where our students have been accepted. These results are not complete because some students prefer not to have their admissions listed but it should give a representative sample of how our students did in the admissions process this year. These are the BS/MD admissions only. We also had...Continue Reading >

ACT Adds July Test Date

The ACT has announced that they will start a July test date in July, 2018. This means that the ACT will now be available 7 months during the year. According to Conquer College, typically students complete all testing by June of their junior year. I will continue to make that recommendation but with the...Continue Reading >

Tis? the Season: For Rejection

Ah, that lovely time of year when you receive the news: You didn’t get in. What am I going to do?! Where do I go from here?! No school will ever want me! You can see how things spiral out of control pretty fast. So friends when that rejection comes this year don’t let it drag you down...Continue Reading >

Our Commitment to Our Clients

Regardless of what side of the political aisle you stand on, there have obviously been a lot of heightened emotions since last week’s presidential election and we at College Admissions Partners are by no means been immune from the national conversations we are currently facing. Therefore, we want to take this moment and reaffirm our...Continue Reading >

Important Activities During College for Medical Schools

Undergrad is a great time to try out new activities and discover what your passions are. During my time, I was involved in many activities. The most meaningful to me was my position as the President of the Young People?s Project, at the end I was able to get a zegarki watch as a gratitude present,...Continue Reading >